Why Buhari Suspended Okoi Obono-Obla With Immediate Effect

President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the suspension from office, with immediate effect, of the Chairman of the Special Investigation Panel for the Recovery of Public Property, Mr Okoi Obono-Obla.

The suspension shall be in effect until the conclusion of ongoing Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission, ICPC, investigations into a number of cases relating to Mr. Obono-Obla, the presidency said on Wednesday.

Obono-Obla, has been battling allegations of certificate forgery and other corruption-related charges slammed on him by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission, ICPC.

Last week, the ICPC submitted a report to the presidency confirming that the official indeed forged his high school certificate.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that the agency’s conclusion was that Mr Obono-Obla fraudulently squeezed himself into the University of Jos decades ago.

“He did not secure requisite academic credentials to enter the University of Jos to study law or the Nigerian Law School,” the report found, according to sources. “He cannot build a career on fradulently-obtained credentials.”

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Consequently, the ICPC advised the president to promptly relieve Mr Obono-Obla of his job after which its detectives would then take him into custody for prosecution, the newspaper quoted a source as saying.

Recalls that trouble began for Mr Obono-Obla on Friday when a detachment of police officers from Force Headquarters descended on his Asokoro office and sealed off the building just after the official closed for the day. It was a preemptive move to block the official from removing evidence, one source familiar with the matter had said